


I Hate Leaving My Lily Behind

by PuppyLuver256



Series: Life and Times in the Habit-Bora Household [3]
Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Family Shenanigans, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Mutual Pining, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:09:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22019905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuppyLuver256/pseuds/PuppyLuver256
Summary: Kamal's youngest brother is getting married and the Habit-Bora family is invited to the wedding, but for various reasons, only Kamal is able to make it. Now Habit and Kamal are on opposite ends of the country for little under a week, the longest they've been apart since they've been a couple, and Habit's last therapy visit going south isn't helping matters...
Relationships: Dr. Boris Habit & Putunia Mollar, Kamal Bora & OCs, Kamal Bora & Putunia Mollar, Kamal Bora/Dr. Boris Habit, Original Character/Original Character
Series: Life and Times in the Habit-Bora Household [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552876
Comments: 16
Kudos: 63





	1. Flying Lotus

Kamal had been both delighted and anxious when he received the invitation. His youngest brother was getting hitched! He was absolutely happy for him, and couldn’t wait to welcome his fiancee into the family just as they had done for Boris when their wedding had happened. On the other hand, the date of the ceremony posed a bit of dilemma. It was a weekend, of course, which made sense for everyone who was local to be able to attend without worrying about taking off work or excusing their kids from school. But then there was him, whose bright idea it was to relocate nearly to the other side of the country over a decade ago for a “change of scenery”. Not something he ever regretted, of course, but this always made family gatherings a bit more of a hassle, especially now.

“I just can’t figure out what I’m gonna do about this,” Kamal vented to Boris as they were cleaning up after dinner. “It’s Ash’s big day, I can’t exactly tell him that they gotta reschedule for my sake cuz I’m the only one who isn’t at least in the same state. At the same time, I’m _not_ pulling Putunia out of school for a freakin’ wedding, and I wouldn’t wanna force her to go to a wedding anyway...”

“We’ve got plentie of friends who would be happy to watch her,” Boris pointed out. “I’m sure they could easy-ly—” He stopped himself and grimaced. “Shoot, no, I cam’t go anyway. I planned to start getting the pointsettas readey for sale that week.”

“Crap, that’s right,” Kamal said. “And it’s not like you can get someone to cover for you like how I could just give my appointments to Keally. Only people I could think of who’d even be _able_ to, let alone willing, would be Cosmos, or maybe Trencil if he wasn’t too busy.”

“Cosmos could _naught!_ ” Boris insisted. “They are a mine-or, at least I ‘think’ they still are, so legally I donmt think they can run a shop without an adult pres’nt. I could have that wrong tho. In any case, they’re allergies are bad enough at ‘home’ that I wouldn’t want to ask them to do that, and we’re tech-nick-ly business rivals.” He laughed a little at that.

“True.” Kamal took a seat, sighing deeply. “Okay, so guess I’ve got two options here. One, I stay at home and send ‘em a card or something instead, which knowing my family they’d more than likely understand and be happy I was thinking about ‘em anyway, but I’d still feel awful cuz every one of ‘em managed to make it all the way out here for ours. Or two, I fly out to New York and leave you guys alone for up to a week, and then I feel like I’d be leaving you out of this and...I dunno...” He started to run his fingers through his hair, scratching at his scalp as he did so.

Boris was quiet for a bit as he tried to find a good place in the fridge for the leftovers. “You know,” he said once he’d gotten everything in, “it’s been at-least half a ‘year’ since you've seen your family. I think you should go! You deserve to see them, and like you sayed, they’ll understand that Putunia and I can’t co—” He’d turned around at that moment to see Kamal with his fingers in his hair. “That’s just twirl-ing, right?” he asked. “You told me to let you ‘know’ when...”

“Huh?” It was as though Kamal only noticed right then what his hand was doing. He quickly pulled it away from his hair. “Thanks for that,” he said. “ _Really_ gotta look into finding a better solo solution. But anyway, you’re cool with me going without you guys? They’re your family now too, you know.”

“Kamal.” Boris put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “We will be fine, and with any ‘luck’ this would be your on-ly chance to see your brother getting marryed. I wouldn’t want you to miss it.”

“Thanks, Boris,” Kamal said. “I know you know how much this means to me.”

\-----

The day of Kamal’s flight came sooner than expected, but thankfully he was already well-prepared. He’d been packed well in advance, let everyone at the clinic know he'd be gone and called his patients to let them know any appointments they’d had with him would be taken care of by Dr. Keally for the time he was gone, and now all that was left to do was actually get there. Since his flight was at roughly 10, they figured it’d be easier to have him tag along while taking Putunia to school and then Boris could drop him off at the airport afterward. “Now you and your pops better be good while I’m gone, all right?” Kamal chuckled, giving Putunia a big hug. “I’m gonna be gone until Monday at least, and I’d rather not come back to find out you’ve destroyed the place with me not there.”

“Don’t worry, Dad, we’ll be more than good!” Putunia exclaimed.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

“Hey, Putunia, why don’t you go a-head and get in the car?” Boris asked. “I need to help you’re dad with his things.”

Putunia nodded and did just that, and Boris made his way to the back of the car. Kamal had already gotten his suitcase into the trunk, and was just about to grab his carry-on bag before Boris picked it up and handed it to him. “You are gonna be okay, right?” Kamal asked. “Like I know Putunia’s probably fine, but you’re the one I worry about the most...”

“Ab-out that...” Boris let out a sigh, the smile he’d been wearing a minute or so before faltering. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small object, putting it in Kamal’s hand. “Please, take this with you,” he said. “I don’t think have-ing it around would be a good idea right now.”

Kamal looked at the object he’d been handed. It was a small key, attached to a novelty key chain resembling a bottle with a wine glass. “The liquor cabinet key?” He looked up at Boris with concern. “All right, what’s going on?” he asked sternly. “Why do you need this taken out of the house?”

“My last therapy session...didn’t go verey well,” Boris said, his smile gone and replaced with a sad and tired frown. “I was re-minded of the bad times again, and you ‘know’ how I get when that’s on my mind. With you gone for a weak, Putunia needs me to be a response-able parent, and I don’t trust myself with access to alcohol while my feelings are in frownie town.”

“Well, good on you for thinking ahead with that,” Kamal said. “Kinda wish you’d told me about you falling back into this mental state sooner, but still, I appreciate you being open now.”

“I just didn’t want you to worrey...”

“Keepin’ this quiet for so long is what’s actually gonna make me worry, y’know...” Kamal shook his head and put the key in his pocket anyway, then gave Boris a hug and got into the car. Boris’s smile returned as he got into the car as well, and soon enough they were on their way.

\-----

Dropping Putunia off took a bit longer than usual due to a rather rowdy bus crowd in front of them, and they ended up getting to the airport a bit later than Kamal would've liked. “You’ve still ‘got’ time to make your flight, yes?” Boris asked as they pulled up to the drop-off spot.

“Yeah, but I bet I’m gonna hafta run all the way there,” Kamal said. “I’ll call you as soon as I get there, all right?”

“All-right.” They both got out and went about getting the luggage out of the trunk. Before Kamal turned to head into the airport with his things, Boris pulled him into a quick hug and added a kiss for good measure. “I love you, and I’m going to miss you Soooo Much,” he told him. “Have fun and stay safe, we’ll do the same.”

“I love you, too,” Kamal said, pulling away to start his departure. “You and Putunia better behave yourselves while I’m gone!” he shouted with a wave as he jogged away.

“No prom-ises!” Boris called jokingly with a wave of his own. Kamal was soon through the doors of the airport and out of sight. He sighed and got back in the car. This was going to be a long few days.

\-----

The overhead bag nearly dropped on Kamal’s head at least twice before he was finally able to get it all the way into the bin. Yeah, the guy who had been assigned the seat next to his was taller and he probably could’ve just asked him to help, but he was already buckled in and Kamal really didn’t want to bother a stranger over something like this. He sat down himself, giving his seat neighbor an awkward wave which the guy returned in an equally awkward manner, and after fastening his own seat belt he reached into his pocket and took out the tangle toy he’d picked out at the airport gift shop. He had no idea how effective it would be with keeping his fingers busy and away from his hair (he coulda _sworn_ he’d gotten that under control on his own already!), but the one that Putunia had back at home seemed to help her focus so it was worth a try. Worst case scenario, Putunia would get another tangle and he’d figure something else out.

“Testing out a gift for your kid or something?” the guy asked with a chuckle.

“Something like that, yeah,” Kamal said. He took the tangle out of the little box and it immediately settled into a more open shape. Yeah, there was no way he was going to get that back in there easily. Not that he really needed to, of course. Now that he had it out and was starting to fiddle with it, it was actually starting to have a bit of a calming effect on him. The only time his hand reached up to his hair throughout the entire flight was to scratch a quick itch.

Kamal learned a few things on that flight. He learned that part of the Grand Canyon looked a little like a butt from overhead. He learned the main reason why airplane food always seemed to be so tasteless. He learned the guy sitting beside him was named Josh and he worked in video production. And as the plane touched down in New York, he learned that being on the opposite side of the country from the love of his life and their kid really sucked.

At least he had other family to fill the void. Even so, he had the feeling this was gonna be a long few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here’s my excuse to both display my headcanon that Kamal’s got a big supportive family (outside of a brief mention in a crossover AU anyway) and have some loved-one-is-outta-town shenanigans. Mostly wholesome silly ones, though as you can probably predict there miiight be some sad. Hopefully the wholesome balances out the sad! These guys deserve wholesome. This first chapter’s a bit short, but further ones will hopefully be longer. I like having at least five pages in my doc files for chapter fics, hehe.
> 
> Wonder how Habit’s gonna handle being Kamal-nourished for nearly a week. Yes, I _will_ shoehorn in terrible puns, _maybe even in dialogue_ , and you can’t stop me. :3c


	2. Telephone Line, Give Me Some Time

It had been a few hours since the airport drop-off, and after the initial sadness he’d had once they first parted ways Boris was doing pretty well. Being surrounded by his flowers and working with them certainly helped to keep him distracted, if nothing else, and even without that he figured that Kamal’s plane would be landing soon and he was looking forward to that promised post-landing call. He was honestly hoping that either he wouldn’t have any customers at the time of said call or it would come once he’d closed up for the day and returned home.

The door to the shop opened, snapping Boris out of his thoughts. He looked up to see a man with orange hair entering and making his way to the counter with a friendly smile on his face. The man looked a bit familiar, but Boris couldn’t quite place why he felt that way just yet. “Good after-noon, sir!” Boris greeted him excitedly. “What can I get fore you today?”

“C’mon, Habit, you don’t gotta be so formal with me,” the man said with a laugh.

Boris smiled, immediately recognizing the voice and remembering that his mental image of who this man was quite a bit more outlandish than his current appearance. “Oh, hello Ronbo!” he exclaimed. “Sorrey, I’m still so useto seeing you in clown forme, haha.”

“It’s all right.” He grinned and added, “You can just call me Ron when I’m not clowning, y’know.”

“O-kay,” Boris said. “So what can I ‘do’ for you, Ron?”

“Just yer regular dozen roses,” Ron said. “I’ve got a date tonight with this gal I met online and she seems like the flower appreciatin’ type.”

"That sounds like fun!” Boris made his way over to the roses, beckoning Ron to follow. “So do either of you have anie color pref-rences?” he asked.

Ron thought for a bit. “Well, I know she’s kind of quirky so red might be a bit too standard for her tastes,” he said. “Her page on the site uses a lot of pink and purple and some blue, so maybe she’d like those.”

“Pink and purble are loveley together, yes,” Boris said as he looked over the colors he had on hand. “Though I should let you ‘know’ that I don’t stock blue roses at all. Blue ones are either actulaly purple or fed dyes, and I prefrer to let my flowers keep their natural colors.”

“That’s fair.”

Boris reached into a cooler and pulled out two vases full of the pink and purple roses, and as he was getting a better grip on them, the phone at the counter rang and caused him to nearly drop them both. “Finally!” he exclaimed. “Oh, could you hold thees for me for a minute please?” He pushed the vases into Ron’s arms and ran to the phone, picking it up excitedly. “Hello??” he asked, his energy peaked. This high energy quickly started to fall along with his smile as he heard the voice on the other end. “Ma’am, this is a flor-ist shop," he said flatly. “Ma—ma’am, _please_ , this is a florist and I am verie gay. I have no interest in— _no that is not me asking to get Chuck on the line, no, I don’t want to talk to Chuck aaaaa!!_ ” He hung up the phone and turned back to Ron, who looked like he could recognize just how awkward that whole exchange was. “I should probabaly get collar ID for the shop phonme.”

“Yeah, that’d probably be a good idea,” Ron said, strained from the weight of the surprisingly heavy rose vases. He carried them over to the counter and put them down gently with a sigh of relief. “You expectin’ a different call?” he asked. “Who you wantin’ a call from?”

“Kamal,” Boris said. He took the vases and began to craft the bouquet. “He’s out of town for a few daze, and he sayed he would call once he arrived...” He shrugged. “I guess I’m just worreyed. It’s only been a few hours since he ‘left’ and I already reelly miss him.”

“So I guess that means until he gets back, you’re gonna be a little...Kamal-nourished?” Ron said with a chuckle.

Boris’s friendly smile immediately fell again, his eyes getting wide and a little weepy. “ _Yes_.”

“Aw no, I’m sorry, it was just a little joke,” Ron reassured him. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, he’ll come home safe whenever it is he’s s’posedta, everything’s gonna be okay.”

“I knoooww, I just lobve him sew much...” Boris shook his head to try and clear it a bit. “Alright, let’s get this bouquet finnished. Don’t want to keep you too long, after all!”

“No need to rush yourself, bud,” Ron said. “Date’s not until later tonight, take all the time you need.”

Even with the insistence that he was in no hurry, Boris quickly finished with Ron’s bouquet, wrapping the roses in a nice pink paper with violet polka dots and tying it off with blue ribbon to throw in that extra color. After Ron left with the bouquet, a spring in his step as he went on his way, Boris looked over at the clock. 3:30. About time to close up and go pick up Putunia. That also meant it was...6:30 in New York if he had the time zones right? Yeah, that sounded right. Maybe Kamal’s family had taken him to dinner once he landed and that’s why he hadn’t called yet.

He was totally fine.

\-----

3:45. That’s about what his brain felt the time should be as he made his way through the airport, but Kamal looked up from his watch and at a large clock on the wall to see that the local time was 6:45. That was going to take a bit to get used to, something he didn’t think a week would be long enough to help with. Well, either way, he was here and that was all that mattered at this point.

He descended the escalator leading out of the terminal (which he always thought was strange that it gave him less anxiety than a stairwell, not sure if it was because it was more open or that he didn’t have to move as much and risk tripping and falling down them) and soon arrived into the main lobby of the airport. He briefly considered getting a snack at one of the shops or something, but considering what the local time was it would probably be smarter to wait for dinner. He did have a somewhat light lunch on the plane, partly due to him remembering the time zone difference and partly due to the plane food just not being good—

His train of thought was interrupted by the force of a human being exactly his size slamming into him. “KAAAAM!!” the woman screamed in delight. “You big dumb _nerd_ , how’ve ya been?”

“Hey, Kanti,” Kamal wheezed. He patted his sister on the back, trying to get his breath back after she had knocked the wind right out of him. “Been good, currently being crushed by my impatient double.”

“Double? _Really??_ ” Kanti pulled back a bit, a sly grin on her face. “And after all the trouble I went through to make myself look different! Even re-dyed my hair and everything.” She laughed and ran her fingers through the bright red parts of her bangs as if to emphasize her point.

“And it looks good!” Kamal took a deep breath and smiled. “Seriously, the faded look from last time I saw you was nice, but it’s nicer when it’s vibrant like that." He looked around her, a bit confused. “I thought Jazz was picking me up, though,” he said. “Was there a change of plan, or...?”

Kanti laughed a bit. “Yeah, she’s comin’,” she said. “She’s just a bit slowed down by infant wrangling.”

“Is Vi even old enough to where getting her ready could be considered ‘wrangling’?” He shrugged, figuring that word choice wasn’t really something worth getting hung up about when he had family to catch up with.

The twins made their way to the exit, where a woman with long braided hair and a baby in a stroller was waiting, shaking her head and grinning. “You could have at least waited for me!” Jasmine exclaimed as they approached. Nevertheless, she jogged toward them with the stroller ahead of her, stopping it short enough to free her arms to hug Kamal. “Oh my god, it’s so good to see you!”

“ _God_ , I’ve missed you guys so much,” Kamal said, smiling warmly. He gently pulled away from the hug and knelt down to give some attention to little Violetta. “And how’s my niece doing?” he asked softly. “You remember me, kiddo? Or do you just think I look like Auntie Kanti with bad hair?” Violetta stared at him with huge eyes, then made some baby babble sounds and smiled, showing off a couple of brand new teeth. “Well, at least you don’t think I’m scary,” Kamal chuckled.

Jasmine laughed as well, then looked around with a bit of disappointment. “So Boris and Putunia really aren’t here, then?” she asked.

"Yeah, they couldn’t make it," Kamal said with a slight frown. “I’m gonna let Ash know they send their best, but they can’t be here in person.”

“Shame they’re missing out.”

“All right, fun greetings out of the way, let’s go get some decent food,” Kanti said. “Plane food ain’t satisfying at all, you need something with actual taste to it.”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Kamal said. “You guys got any ideas?”

“This is gonna sound a bit weird, but I've kinda been wanting Applebee’s for a while,” Jasmine suggested.

Kamal nodded. “Sounds better than nothing,” he said. "Apples or bees?”

Jasmine grinned. “ _Definitely_ bees.”

“Also you’re gonna hafta ride with Jazz because I brought my bike,” Kanti said. “Hope you like listening to baby music in the car!”

“Hey, Violetta has good tastes! She’s a big fan of the Stones!”

They all shared a good laugh and exited the airport. It’d been a long while since he’d seen the family he’d grown up with, and Kamal was savoring the moments with them while he was there.

\-----

“Pops! Come play Mario Kart with me!”

Boris turned his attention away from the phone, which he’d been absentmindedly staring at for the past few minutes, and looked over at Putunia. She didn’t have any homework today, so she already had the SNES set up with the second controller plugged in. “All-right, Putunia,” he said, standing up and heading over to the couch. “You’ll have to teach me how two play, though!”

“It’s easy,” Putunia insisted as Boris joined her on the couch and took the second controller. “You hold B to go, you hit A to use your item, the left and right arrows to steer, and these top buttons make you jump and slide.” She made sure to hold up her own controller and mime pushing each button to show him which ones she was talking about.

“Sounds simple e-nough,” Boris said with a nod. “And I’me guessing the arrows also pick in the menyus?”

“Yeah, those and A.” They were at the character select screen, and Putunia just pressed A immediately as player 1’s option was already on Mario. “Okay, you pick someone now too!”

Boris stared at the screen for a while, looking over the other seven choices available to him. In all honesty, the only character he recognized from what was available was Mario himself, and maybe that taller green Mario and the princess lady. “This liddol mush-room guy looks like fun,” he said, finally settling on Toad. They began a race, and while Boris wasn’t sure if the controls were actually more complex than he’d been led to believe or if Putunia just had an advantage by having played the game and others on that console far more often than he had, they were having fun regardless even as she flew past him on that and the next few races afterward. It was fun even when their calico Willow climbed up onto the TV stand and blocked Boris’s part of the screen with her fluffy cuteness, and Putunia was good enough of a sport to pause while he stood up to coax her out of the way.

It was really convenient that was the moment that the phone rang and Webster, who was generally very well-behaved, started letting out some deep and booming borks.

“Oh, let me just get that reel quick!” Boris carefully transferred Willow to Putunia (who immediately let the cat wriggle out of her arms and leap onto the ground) and made his way over to the phone. “Hel-looo?” he half-sang as he answered, as he had a very good feeling he knew exactly who it was judging by both the timing and the area code on the caller ID.

“ _Guess who._ ”

“Hmmm, I do not know,” Boris said, grinning and twirling the phone cord around his finger. “Could it beeee...the best hubsband I could have ever asked fore? Who I already miss a whole lot?” He held the phone away from his face briefly and turned back to Putunia. “Go get the cord-less, it’s Dad!” She gasped and squealed, running up the stairs nearly two at a time.

“ _Yeah, sorry I didn’t call sooner,_ ” Kamal said. “ _The chaos sisters took me to Applebee’s and I couldn’t refuse._ ”

“Did you all get plemty of appls?” Boris asked with a laugh.

“ _The bees gave us sooo many apples, you have no idea. Swear they almost brought in the whole tree—_ ”

“HI DAD HOW’S NEW YORK!!!”

As much as they generally appreciated Putunia’s enthusiastic nature, she nearly blew out both their eardrums with that. Kid needed to work on her phone manners. “In-side voice on the phone, please,” Boris said.

“ _Yeah, I’m pretty sure Aunt Kanti heard that too._ ” A brief pause, then Kamal added, “ _Yup, and she says hi._ ”

“Sorry, Dad,” Putunia said as she came back down the stairs with the cordless phone. “You doin’ good? Have you met Spiderman yet?”

“ _Things are good over here, yeah,_ ” Kamal said. “ _And Spiderman’s too busy for personal meet-and-greets, sorry Tunes. He’s got a lot of webs to sling, y’know._ ”

“Dang.”

“Oh, why domt you tell Dad the funny storey you told me early-er?"”Boris suggested.

“Yeah, Dad, guess what!” Putunia exclaimed, though she did try and keep her voice down for the sake of not causing more ear damage over the phone. “Kylie dared Michael to eat a bug at recess! Said that if he ate the bug then she'd share some of the candy she brought to school!”

“ _Good lord, did this kid actually eat the bug?_ ”

“He DID! And then after he got the candy, he found another bug and ate it too! GROSS!”

“ _Did he think he’d get more candy or did he just wanna eat bugs?_ ”

“I dunno, but he tried to grab a third bug before the teacher stopped him.”

“ _Woooww._ ”

“Hey, why don’t you go get reddy to help with dinner?” Boris asked. “I’d like to talk to your dad on my own for a bit.”

“Okay, Pops,” Putunia said. She then half-shouted into the phone, “We’re making spaghetti and meatballs!!”

“ _Nice, I had a club sandwich. You enjoy that sketti for me, all right?_ ”

“I will!”

Putunia put the phone down and scampered off to clean up. As she did, Boris picked up the cordless receiver and ended its connection to the call. “Hope I don’t for-get to put that back in the thing again,” he chuckled. “So how was youre flight?”

“ _It went pretty smoothly, all things considered,_ ” Kamal said. “ _Oh, and I got one of those tangle toy things that Putunia has, it really helped with the resurgence of the hair thing._ ”

“That’s good,” Boris sighed. “I hope you don’t start pull-ing your hair out again, it probably hurts a ‘lot’.”

“ _My scalp lost sensitivity when I was at the peak of doing that,_ ” Kamal admitted. “ _I’m not sure if starting it up again would hurt that bad or not._ ” A pause, then he added, “ _That’s probably not a comforting statement, I know. ‘Specially when you’ve got your own issues comin' back up. You feelin’ any better since this morning?_ ”

“A little, now that I'm hearing from you,” Boris said. “I should get start-ed on dinner. Webster and Willow say ‘hi’, I would let Webby greet you himself but you know how that would bee.”

“ _Yeah, I don’t think Kanti’s clutter would appreciate that,_ ” Kamal laughed. “ _I’ll let you go, then. Love ya, I’ll try to call at least once a day, all right?_ ”

“All-right. I love you, two.”

A click on the other end, and Boris hung up the phone with a bittersweet sigh. Kamal had arrived safely and was with his family, both of which were good, yet even though they’d only been apart for a few hours it still felt to him like so much longer. They’d been apart for much longer before, of course, but that was before they’d become a couple. And the physical distance then had been a few yards at most, an elevator ride and a stair climb and that was it. Of course the emotional distance then was long and vast and very much Boris’s fault for causing it to be so...

That was in the past, though, and the reparations to their relationship had been made. What was more important in the moment than dwelling on his past mistakes was getting that spaghetti started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Missing each other from both sides of the country, here’s hoping they’re not too torn up about it and their love is even stronger when Kamal comes home. Though of course one of them’s gonna have things harder than the other, or maybe they’ll both have their issues while separated...hoo boy.
> 
> This story’s gonna feature both mine and Tav’s (pollyannam3 on Tumblr and Ao3) combined Bora fam! I came up with Kanti and Ash, and they came up with Jasmine and babby Violetta (who’s about six months old at the time of this story) and all the other non-Kamal members of the family that’ll eventually show up. :D God, I hope I don’t make y’all peeps with siblings cringe with my sibling interaction writing. I have _no_ first-hand experience being an only child and all, so my only guides for this are people talking about sibling culture and piecing together their anecdotes. I at least know better than to do the whole “hello sister, hello brother” thing unless they’re being sarcastic or something. XD Also the pets of the Habit-Bora household, Webster the St. Bernard and Willow the cat, also come from discussions with Tav. You might’ve seen their in-progress story Dog Days where Webster and some other puppos were introduced...guess I kinda vaguely spoiled what happens to Webster there at least, hehehe. (Where were they in my previous non-AU SFM fics? Uhhh...they were particularly well-behaved and out of the way. Yeah.)
> 
> And yes, Ronbo could’ve _totally_ gotten a date from the internet with the timeline still being accurate, Kiss.com was launched in 1994 and Match.com in 1995, both of which he could access in this story that’s like a year and some months after the in-game events. He’s not gonna be looking for church girls tho, Christian Mingle wasn’t out until 2001. ;P


	3. Nightmares and Nerves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially forgot to put a notice on this beforehand, but there's some talk of Habit's childhood trauma in this one as well as some dreamed-up death described by a kid, just warnin' ya. Oh, and minor blood in the waking world.

Boris woke up hyperventilating in a cold sweat, the sheets twisted all around him from his presumably fitful sleep. He couldn’t move. The lingering fear kept him paralyzed. His eyes darted all around, his mind hyper alert and his body tense as he tried to access his surroundings. Slowly he realized that he wasn’t actually in his childhood home, but in his current home where he was safe and people cared about him and nobody turned heightened emotions into serious violence. He allowed his body to loosen up, the process significantly eased when he heard Webster make a noise in his sleep from his doggy bed on the other end of the room. There were never pets in the old house.

“I hope I didmn’t wake you upp...” he murmured sleepily as he turned over to face...no one. Right. Kamal was in New York, and that meant he wasn’t here. He looked over at the alarm clock, the bright red 12:09 practically burning into his eyes. So he’d gotten a little less than two hours of sleep, then. He didn’t think he could go back to sleep very easily just yet. He had to find a way to ease his mind...

He hadn’t noticed that he’d even got out of bed and pulled his puppet replica off the shelf and onto his arm until he felt the familiar weight. “Habiiiit whamt R yuo dewiiiing?” That sing-song voice he associated with Lil Habby definitely came out of his throat, but it always felt a bit disconnected especially in moments like this. “Did U have the bad dreems a-gen? Wamt 2 talka bout it??”

“I guess I do, deep-down,” Boris murmured. He rubbed at his eye with his free hand and sighed. “I was afraid of this, the night-mares comeing back while aloan...”

“May-B yuo can ‘call’ him?” He grabbed one of the puppet's little hands and papped it against his cheek. “Kam-al lobves u nd wamnt you 2 feele safe.”

Boris shook his head. “No, it’s too late,” he said. “Especilaly in EST. I don’t want to ‘wake’ him...”

“That’s _is_ a prob-lem...” He tilted Lil Habby back and forth with little “hmm”s to make it seem like he was thinking. “Maybie U shoulb get a drimk and trie 2 go back to sleepy.”

Yeah. A drink sounded good. Something strong to dull his mind a bit.

He left the room and headed down the hall, not bothering to remove the puppet from his arm. As he approached the stairs, the rational part of his brain kicked in and the arm that housed his double suddenly pushed the rest of him backward. “ _Noooo!_ No no no!!!” he half-shouted, half-whispered, trying desperately not to wake Putunia. “Not taht kind-of drink! U pro-missed! No more drinky-drinky when your ‘sadd’! On-lee when happie and havbing fun!”

Boris pushed Lil Habby out of his face and continued down the stairs and into the kitchen. His mind was so focused on getting rid of the bad memories, and also wondering whether wine and rum would taste good mixed together, that he didn’t listen to anything coming from his sense of reason. He approached the liquor cabinet and grabbed the handle.

Locked. He searched through the nearby cabinet drawer, and the key was missing from its usual spot. That’s right, he’d asked Kamal to take it with him specifically to prevent this. He rested his head against the liquor cabinet door and sighed in frustration. “I’me regretting past me’s foursight,” he groaned.

“Past ‘u’ is good!” Lil Habby said. “Now yuo wilbe sayfe and so-bur. Get yurslelf some _woter_ amd go back 2 bed.”

“But you know...” Boris said sleepily, “I am an adult. If I camnt get to the alca-hol I have right now, I can just...go to the store and Buy Some.”

"Nooooo you can ‘ _naught_ ’!”

“And what’s stop-ping me?”

As if on cue, the sound of a door creaking open could be heard from upstairs. Little footsteps padded slowly across the hardwood, accompanied by sad sniffles. “Pops...?” Putunia's voice meekly called out when the footsteps briefly paused. “Where are you?”

“I’m down here!” Boris called back. “Hold on just a sec-ond...” He quickly slipped the puppet off his arm and placed him carefully on the counter (Putunia still wasn’t the biggest fan of him, even if both she and Kamal had gotten used to him by now) and made his way back upstairs as quickly and safely as he could. “I’m here, flower, what’s the matt—” Boris began to ask, but he was cut off by Putunia running into him and grabbing his legs, sobbing. “Oh no, sweet-heart, what happened?”

“I...I had a really really bad dream...” Putunia whined in between sniffling sobs. “And, and you got hurt and I was scared, and when I woke up and went to look for you, you weren’t there, and...”

She buried her face in his knees and cried. He hadn’t seen her cry like this since she’d broken her arm at the park months ago, and even then she’d tried to act tough and hold it in. “It’s okay, Putunia,” Boris said, patting her head softly. “I’m here and we’re both Awake and Safe. Do you...want to tell me about it?”

Putunia nodded, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. They both went downstairs to the couch, and Boris got them both glasses of water. “So in my dream, you and Dad were with me and we got really small,” Putunia began. “And there were these birds that we climbed on and we started flying around and it was fun! And then...” She sniffed real hard and took a drink of her water before continuing. “Then you looked away from where your bird was going and you both went _SPLAT_ on a wall and you were...there was _blood_ and...”

“Ev-er-y-thing’s okay, flower, look at me.” Boris pulled her into a hug. “Do I look like I went ‘splat’ ag-ainst the wall?”

“No,” Putunia said. “You’re all in one piece.”

“Eggsactly,” he said. “Dreams are not real, remembrer?” Boris smiled softly. “If it makes you feel better, I had a bad dream two.”

“What happened in yours?”

Boris hesitated. He wondered if it was really appropriate to share that with her, especially because it had once been real and it would probably make her more upset. Then again, she understood. “You kno what I told you when you ask-ed why we nebver see or talk about Grandpa Habit?”

Putunia’s eyes narrowed. She remembered the explanation well. “Grandpa Habit’s a bad man,” she said, the hand not holding her glass balling up into a fist. “A _very_ bad man who hurt your smile.”

“Well...the dream was Exactly That,” he said with some difficulty. “I was a littol boy again. He was looming over me, Lily was on the floor with his pot in pea-cez, and...” His hand instinctively went to his mouth, as if to try and stem a flow of blood that had been closed off nearly thirty years ago. “I think...that’s e-nuff detale for you to get it.”

“Yeah.” Putunia took another drink and added, “If he ever comes here for real, I’ll fight him for ya.”

“I appreciate that,” Boris said. “Let’s hope you never havto make good on youre word.” He doubted she would ever have to meet his father, but he hoped upon hope that that man would never reenter his life again. Not even just for his own sense of self-preservation. He had good family now, family that he would do anything to protect.

Both father and daughter finished their waters, and soon enough Boris sent Putunia back to bed. He, however, wasn’t quite ready to return to bed just yet. It’s easier to recover from dreams that are complete fabrications than dreams that are shot-for-shot flashbacks of horrible memories. Even without that, he felt awful for what he’d been thinking of doing. If he hadn’t insisted on Kamal taking the liquor cabinet key...if he’d gone through with his idea to self-sabotage his preventative measure by going on a late-night alcohol run...Putunia would have been alone in the house, or worse, alone with an adult who was inebriated. She would have had no one to turn to in her hour of need. _God_ , he could only imagine how much more torn up she would be if that’d been the case...

He briefly reconsidered whether or not calling Kamal was a good idea, but he quickly reminded himself of the timezone issue and decided against it once again. No need to wake him up in the middle of the night.

\-----

Kamal slowly opened his eyes, groggy and feeling colder than he was used to upon waking. He couldn’t remember where he was for a moment. The bed was definitely shorter than the one he shared with Boris, so he wasn’t at home. It was gradually coming back to him; he was in New York for the wedding. And he _knew_ his family wouldn’t let him stay at a hotel when they had open rooms. But whose...? Well, Ash would probably want to be alone with Marcy... Both Heather and Aspen had offered to house some of Marcy’s out-of-state family at their places... Mom and Dad had some others staying with them... So was he at Jasmine and Lin’s house or Kanti’s apartment? He remembered Jazz talking about a weird smell in the guest room, and he didn’t smell anything...

As if to confirm what he’d figured out by now, a round furry form squished up against his face. He gently pushed one of Kanti’s cats away to give himself more room to breathe. He couldn’t immediately tell who this one was in the dark. Too big to be Casper, stood out against the shadows too much to be Samhain... Cadbury, maybe? No, still too big, and what little detail he could make out of the coloration was pretty similar all around...

“Garfield, you certainly live up to your name,” Kamal groaned. Garfield responded by turning his head to look at him and letting out a low “mrowl” sound. For such a grumpy old thing, he warmed up to Kamal fast, surprisingly fast according to Kanti. He tried nudging Garfield a bit further away and _he started purring oh my god how did this fat grouch suddenly become so adorable_.

The fact that he could barely see anything finally registered to him; there was no sunlight filtering through the windows. What time was it? He looked over at the alarm clock on the bedside table and saw that it was nearly four in the morning. _Great_. He’d gone to bed at his normal time according to the local clocks, but his internal clock was still operating on west coast hours so it must have thought he was just taking a nap and woke him up early. He could try to go back to sleep, but he felt somewhat rested so would that even work? And if not, what was he going to do with the time until his alarm would go off? He could watch TV, but if it hadn’t been turned down before the last time it was on it would wake up Kanti. He could call Boris—no he couldn’t, it was nearly one over there and Boris always stuck to his “beddy-time” unless there was something wrong. Read a book? He forgot to bring any, and Kanti’s tastes were vastly different from his. Internet? Nah, the dial-up sound would cause the same problem as turning on the TV...

_Pop._

He heard it before he felt it, before he realized where his hands were. Cringing inside and out, he slowly lowered his hands from his head. Sure enough, entwined in the fingers of his right hand were three long, dark hairs. No, no no _no_ , not again. He couldn’t start this again.

Panicking yet trying to stay relatively quiet, Kamal leapt out of bed and started rifling through his bags. The tangle had helped on the plane, it had to work again now. But no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find it. He knew for _certain_ he had put it back in there before getting off the plane! Where the hell _was_ it?!

His fingers brushed hard plastic. He gripped it, and even though the shape was much too rigid and rectangular to be the tangle, he pulled it out anyway. One of his spare toothbrushes. His mouth did feel kinda gross due to having just woken up. Maybe having a quick brush would get his mind off that urge to pull, and if not then he’d just have cleaner teeth and that was always good, right???

He ran into the bathroom, toothbrush in hand, no longer able to keep the sound of his activity low in his moment of anxiety. Turn the faucet on full blast. Squirt a buttload of toothpaste onto the brush. Just go to town on those mouth bones. Immediately his mind began to ease, his worries being scraped away along with whatever minuscule amount of bacteria and plaque had built up in his short period of sleep. Ohhh yeah. That felt _real_ good. _Way_ better than pulling out hair. He could keep this up for a while, just brushy-brushy-brushy and clean away all the bad thoughts...

“Kamal...?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin. Slowly turning, he saw a very tired Kanti standing outside of the bathroom door. “What are you doing up so late?” she asked. Kamal’s mouth was too full of toothpaste foam to talk properly without spewing it everywhere, so he just took the brush out of his mouth and waved it a bit as an attempt at an answer. “Four in the morning’s kind of a weird time to brush your teeth, I guess, but I’m not gonna judge _oh my god you’re bleeding_.”

“Ah _beedeh?!_ ” Kamal looked at his toothbrush, and then at the mirror, and saw pink slowly spreading throughout the white foam. He quickly spat into the sink, pink and red splattered in the basin. Thankfully it wasn't too much, but still, it was there and that in itself was worrying. After rinsing out the rest of it, he looked over at Kanti and asked, “You have any idea how long I was in here, maybe?”

“Not a clue,” Kanti said, shaking her head. She waited for Kamal to finish up to his satisfaction (which included examining his gums to try and find where the bleeding had started) before continuing. “What’s got you up this late, anyway?” she asked. “Nightmare? Acid reflux?”

“Jet lag, I think,” Kamal said. “I was gonna go back to sleep, but then the, um...the trich came back.” Upon seeing Kanti’s eyes widen at this, he quickly added, “Not like in middle school! It was just one pull and three hairs, I just panicked and needed to get my mind off it. I got a tangle toy at the airport and that helped, but I can’t find it, and when I went looking for it I grabbed a toothbrush instead and...yeah.”

“Sammy,” Kanti muttered under her breath. “I can check the usual spots where she drags things off to, if you want.”

“Nah, I wouldn’t wanna make you go searching for things so late at night,” Kamal said. “I’ll figure something else out until morning. I’ll be fine.” He sighed, clearly having tired himself out from nerves.

“You’re too worked up for this to have been caused by just jet lag,” Kanti said, concern in her tone and on her face. “Anything else on your mind, Kam?”

“Guess I’m still a little worried about the family back west,” Kamal admitted. “When I was getting ready to head out, Boris told me he had problems with his last therapy session. I appreciate that he told me about it, and that gave me the liquor cabinet key so he couldn’t do anything too harmful, but I wish he’d told me about it...y’know, _when it happened_ instead of right before I fly all the way to the other side of the country so I could actually help him out then if he needed someone. Y’know what I mean?”

Kanti nodded. “So you good to go back to bed, or you wanna talk a bit more?”

“I probably should, if I don’t wanna wake up like a wreck in the morning,” Kamal said with a sigh. “Think Garfield will be willing to keep me company until then?”

“I don’t think I’d be able to take him away by this point,” Kanti chuckled. “Well, g’night then. Don’t drown in cat fluff.”

Kanti made her way back to her room, and Kamal returned to the guest room. Garfield was still sitting on the bed, and he tried his best not to bother him too badly as he climbed back under the sheets. Just as Kamal felt himself starting to drift off again, the senior of the clutter rolled over onto his arm and started purring like crazy. His arm was definitely going to be asleep when he got up in the morning, but he had a feeling that brief future discomfort would be worth the strange warmth of a fat old cat now. His worries may have been stuck with his new family on the west coast, but his old family here would be there like they always had been. That’s just what the Boras do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hi, old childhood nightmare, I didn’t see you there. How about I pass you on to this small fictional child over here. Cool? Cool. And what’s that, trichotillomania? You wanna get in touch with this nervouse dentist? No problem! Think the only one I’m _not_ projecting on here is Habit, and he’s got his own canonical (or at least canonically implied, if the lounge opening PSA is anything to go by) problems. Healthy coping mechanisms only from here on out! There may be bread!
> 
> I know most of us, including myself, tend to refer to Habit’s puppet double as Pabit, but the merch and that one con announcement call him Lil Habby so I just assume that’s what _he’d_ call him. Hence why I call him that in fics instead of Pabit, hehe. And wow, _Pabit_ being a voice of reason for Habit, how wild is _that_. Also if you’re worried about the comments about Habit’s dad possibly being foreshadowing for this or any future fics, don’t be. The only way I’m writing the trash dad in my stuff is in flashbacks or as a corpse. Same deal with trash mom. They’re gross and I don’t want ‘em!


	4. This Party's Bananas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains some carelessly made homophobic/transphobic comments. The moment in which this happens is brief and I haven't figured out yet if the character in question meant these comments with any malice, but regardless I figured I would give a warning on the matter.

_God_ , why’d he think it was a good idea let a twenty pound cat sleep on his arm. Kamal was supposed to be catching up with the family, but he kept getting caught up in nursing the pain in his arm that hours of being under Garfield’s whole weight had caused. And the little dot-shaped markings near the wrist gave him the impression that someone had tried to nibble on him in his sleep. Probably Samhain. What little interaction he’d had with Kanti’s Halloween kitty had led him to learn that she was a little bitey.

“Hey, at least that basketball of a cat tolerates you,” Ash said with a laugh. “Last time I was over at Kanti’s he stared at me so intensely that I swear he was trying to kill me with his eyes alone. Either that or he was planning how to best poop in my shoes.”

“Oh my god, he sounds like a _bastard_ ,” Marcy, Ash’s bride-to-be, said. “I wanna meet him. Grumpy cats are the _best_ when you get to know them.” Kamal had only met this woman once before, when Ash had brought her as a plus-one to his own wedding, but even so he could tell from his brief interaction with her that they were great for one another. A couple nerds finding love through their shared nerdery, and the fact that they’d both been working at the same library branch when they met was just a nice coincidence and _totally_ didn’t set a new trend of the Bora kids falling in love on the job, no sir.

“Well, apparently if he likes you, he never leaves you alone,” Kamal said. “And Sammy’s a bitey little thief.” The hand of his other arm absentmindedly found its way into his pocket, where the recovered tangle was being kept. “So, just a couple days until the big one. You guys nervous?”

“No more than any other couple getting married, I don’t think,” Ash thought aloud.

“Yeah, exactly,” Marcy agreed. “We’re pretty confident our relationship’s ready for this next step, so any nerves are just from it being kind of a big event.”

“I’m really happy for you guys,” Kamal said with a smile. “Shame Boris and Putunia couldn’t be here for it too, but they still send their love.”

Marcy’s face fell a little bit. “Speaking of you and Boris,” she said, “I feel like it’s only fair to warn you about one of my relatives. My brother, Dale, he’s...well, he’s kind of a _dick_. Not like malicious, I don’t think, but he’s said some things about certain groups of people without thinking enough times that you might hear some...some unpleasantries.”

“Sounds like a charming guy,” Kamal said sarcastically. He secretly hoped he wouldn’t have to be around this Dale person too much. He hadn’t even met the guy and already he didn’t want to deal with any BS. This visit wasn’t even about him or some casually insensitive asshat, this was about Ash and Marcy, he was here to support them and by god that was what he was going to do.

\-----

When Boris had gotten up that morning, the first thought he had was that he was going to force himself to actually make use of healthy coping mechanisms. He and Kamal had been able to talk again, albeit briefly, and of course that had helped, but he couldn’t rely on him being able to answer the phone at the drop of a hat. He was going to deal with his resurging trauma himself, constructively, just like he’d learned in therapy.

And that’s what led him to staring down a shelf of bananas at the grocery store.

He figured that making something would help work through the bad memories, and issues that big probably required making something equally big to effectively counteract it. Baking a bunch of banana bread sounded really good, and he could let Putunia help and they could have a lot of fun together! The only problem was that the bananas before him were all under-ripened for the purposes of banana bread. Some bunches were nearly entirely green, while others were mostly yellow with one or two tiny brown dots. “Ex-cuse me!” he called to a passing employee. “Dew you have any brown bonanas?”

“Uh, no? I don’t think so...?” the employee replied in a confused tone. “Whatever bananas are there, that’s all we have right now.”

“That’s a shame,” Boris sighed and picked up one of the yellow bunches with slightly more brown spots than the others. “Looks like thise is close enough...”

“I know it’s really none of my business, but why _brown_ bananas?” the employee asked. “Usually people want some green on there.”

“I’me making bonana bread!” Boris said happily. “I read omline that it workes best with over-ripe bonanas but none of these are reddy.”

The employee shrugged. “Guess you just gotta make do, huh,” they said. “Wish I could help you more, sir.”

“Oh, don’t worrey about it, you did your best.” Boris gave the employee a smile and wave before moving on to pick up the rest of his ingredients. They had most of the things at home already (aside from the obvious), so he just needed to get some extra eggs, a new bottle of vanilla in case what they had expired, a bag of flour...

Chocolate chips. He nearly passed them over before the idea hit him. Sure, why not, Putunia would really like that addition! And maybe they could make a few extra loaves to give to friends, though if that was the case then he’d have to make sure to make some non-chocolatey ones lest they fall into the dog boy’s hands. Maybe he could get some nuts and put ‘em in as an alternative. That kid only had a chocolate allergy, not a nut allergy, right? Right. He was sure of it.

He grabbed a bag of walnuts and put them into his basket, and since he wasn’t sure if he still had enough bananas now that he'd decided to make more loaves than he'd originally intended, he swung back around the produce section to grab another bunch of bananas (and what luck! someone had apparently decided they didn’t need their much more browned bananas and put them back!) and got a small box of watermelon chunks for snacking purposes. Strangely enough, he was feeling better already, and the baking process hadn’t even started!

\-----

After helping Putunia finish her homework, which thankfully didn’t take too long because all she had to do was a single easy worksheet, they were able to get started on baking. “So are we gonna have to wait for this to get all big like regular bread?” Putunia asked.

“No, its not that kind of bread,” Boris said as he set out their supplies. “It’s going to be more like littol cakes without frosting, if that makes semse. Dose that make sense?”

“I think so,” Putunia said. “Like a looong muffin.”

Boris thought for a bit on that statement. “That’s...actulaly not too far off.” He sat a large bowl onto the table and began peeling the bananas one by one. “Would you like to smush the bonana?” he asked. “They’re firm-er than the recipe says their supposeto be, so I'me going to need a strong hero to take care of them!”

Putunia gasped. “Heck yeah!”

After peeling all the bananas (and cutting them to make mashing in their less-ripe state a bit easier), he handed her the bowl and a fork and let her go to town on the pieces, which she did so with enthusiasm and vigor. As she did that, Boris set about mixing the dry ingredients, making a mental note to separate the batter later on before adding the extras so the walnut and chocolate batches wouldn’t cross-contaminate. They were both getting really into the food prep process, so much so that Boris almost didn’t notice when the phone rang. Thankfully it didn’t ring for too long before actually grabbing his attention, and he quickly answered it once he cleaned the flour off his hands. “Hell-o Kamaaal!”

“ _Hey, Boris,_ ” Kamal said. “ _Just wanted to give you a heads-up, I’m about to head out for Ash’s bachelor party so I’m probably not gonna be available for...the next couple hours, I think? So yeah, wanted to get at least one more call in before the party and the inevitable tired crash after._ ”

“All right,” Boris said. “You boise have fun, and dom’t do anie-thing I wouldn’t do!”

Kamal couldn’t help but laugh. “ _I’m not even gonna be doing some things you **would** do, babe._”

“Hehehe, you know I’me just joke-ing,” Boris chuckled. He felt a bit of guilt knowing what he was most likely referring to, considering the events of the previous night... “Do you wamt to talk to Putunia real quick before you go?” he asked.

“ _Of course! I wanna hear from my kid!_ ”

Boris held the phone up to Putunia’s ear, as her hands were still full with the task of banana-mashing. “Hi Dad!” she practically shouted into the phone. “Oh, sorry, inside voice. _Hi Daaaad._ ”

“ _Hey, Tunes. How was school?_ ”

“It was boring, but nothing bad happened so it’s okay,” Putunia said. “But we’re having fun now! Me and Pops are making banana bread!”

“Putuniaaaa I wamnted that to be a sur-price!” Boris said with an amused sigh.

“Well I didn’t know!” Putunia exclaimed. “Uh, act like you’re surprised when you come home, okay Dad?”

“ _Sorry, kiddo, cat’s out of the bag and your dad’s not that good an actor. You guys have fun with that banana bread, all right?_ ”

“Will do!”

Boris took the phone back, laughing a little as Putunia went back to energetically mashing banana. “Well, we should probaly let you ‘go’, then,” he said. “Tell evry-one I said hi, okay?”

“ _Already have been,_ ” Kamal said. There was a kissing sound on the other end, likely him doing an air kiss over the receiver. “ _Love ya, miss ya._ ”

“I love and miss you, two.” Boris returned the phone-kiss before hanging up. He then turned back to Putunia to examine her work. “Niceley done!” he exclaimed, and Putunia beamed at the praise. “So are you reddy to mix it inn with the rest?”

Putunia nodded. “Can I do the mixing too?” she asked.

“Of course,” Boris said. “Just remembrer, we’re makeing two separate batches for the diff-rent extra things, so be care-ful when we’re dividing them!”

Even with her enthusiasm, Putunia managed to scoop the banana into the dry mix bowl with an uncharacteristic amount of care, and though she mixed with vigor the majority of the mix stayed in the bowl. Together, they soon had the whole batter mixed as much as needed, and separating the two halves into the one that would get chocolate chips and the one that would get walnuts went surprisingly smoothly. They both had to stop each other from eating the add-ins before getting them into the separated mixes (though it was moreso Boris stopping Putunia from snacking), but even so all the loaves they managed to pan out had a healthy amount of whatever they would have baked into them. They even had some extra, which Boris sprinkled onto the tops of the loaves to help himself tell them apart after baking.

“Aaand...in go the first batch,” Boris said as he carefully placed three of the pans into the oven. “Shouldn’t take two long, and then we can bake the rest.” He looked around the kitchen to see the other pans scattered about, all over the countertop and on the stove. He was honestly glad that they wouldn’t have to clean up much aside from the dishes, but the pans all over the place...and the fact that he just realized they hadn’t had dinner yet...

“Is banana bread gonna be our dinner, Pops?” Putunia asked.

“No, that’s not e-nough for a meel,” Boris said. “I’me thinking...how do you feel abbout me calling for Chinese take-out?”

“Yeah, yeah, Chinese food!” Putunia exclaimed. “I want three egg rolls! No, wait, I want _ten!!_ ”

Boris laughed. “We can’t get that manie, I’m afraid, or there might not be enough for other customers,” he said. “But I will get you an eggstra one, does that soumd good?”

“I guess.” She pouted and muttered to herself, “I wanted _all_ the egg rolls...”

\-----

The vast majority of the time, Kamal was not a drinker. He didn’t have any moral issue with alcohol, only the things people did while using it as an excuse or how society seemed to encourage addiction to the stuff by shaming those who would rather not partake for any personal reason, and _his_ personal reason for his common refusal was that most alcoholic beverages tasted awful to him. Ash was aware of this, and when they’d arrived at the arcade he’d rented for his bachelor party it was clear that he’d already taken both Kamal’s aversion and his pal Johnny’s attempts to stave off a potential forming addiction by providing plenty of sodas alongside the stronger stuff.

That being said, there was one small bottle among the booze that was just for him: Baileys Irish cream. It wasn’t too strong for him, it tasted more like a subdued dessert of sorts and less like what he imagined the flavor of drain cleaner might be, and there was only the one that was about a cup and a half at most. He didn’t have to worry about going overboard because everything else was either Nasty or non-alcoholic. What all of them did have to worry about, of course, was the possibility of spilling their drinks all over the game cabinets, which is what Ash and Johnny were looking much more likely to do as they were enthusiastically getting into their Mortal Kombat match.

“You seriously think you’re gonna find some random character that no one else has any solid evidence of existing?” Aspen asked as he watched them, swirling around his beer.

“We’re sure as hell gonna try!” Johnny exclaimed.

“Look, I figured that getting Ermac might be like a good luck thing for the marriage, all right?” Ash said. “Even if it’s just a glitch with Scorpio like people’ve been saying, that’d still be cool to see!”

“I haven't really been keeping up with video games myself,” Kamal said, “but this one’s on the Super Nintendo, yeah?”

“Yeah, it is,” Ash said absentmindedly. He then realized why he was probably being asked that and added, “Don’t get it for Putunia, though. It doesn’t have an age rating yet, no idea if it’s gonna get one, but I’d say it’s not appropriate for kids her age.” As if to emphasize this statement, the character Johnny was playing as performed a rather gruesome finishing move upon Ash’s character. “...Case in point.”

“Yeesh, yeah, thanks for the tip.”

“Seriously don’t get why you wanted this party at an arcade, of all places,” Dale moaned as he leaned on one of the unused game cabinets and chugged his beer. “This is supposed to be a bachelor party, and we’re here in a kid’s place! Could’ve at least ordered some exotic dancers or something.”

“Well, this is my bachelor party, and I wanted to spend it having fun doing things _I_ enjoy,” Ash said, glaring at Dale. “You can have your party in a full-on strip club when you’re getting married if you want, but I don’t feel particularly comfortable doing that sort of thing...y’know, _the night before my wedding?_ ”

“Aw, c’mon, my sis would understand!” Dale laughed. “It’s your last day as a free man, you deserve to live a little!”

“I’m...gonna ignore that ‘free man’ bit.” Ash turned back to the game and started up another match, with Aspen taking Johnny’s place as the second player, and they played for a bit before their excited jostling of the cabinet did indeed cause Aspen’s half-finished beer to topple over. Thankfully it fell off the cabinet and not further onto it, so they were able to avoid damaging anything after some panicking and breaking out several paper towels.

“So you guys wanna try another game, then?” Johnny asked. “Daytona’s looking pretty tempting...”

“Yeah, in a little bit," Ash said with a nod. He took a drink and sighed. “Man, I still can't believe it,” he said. “Gonna be married tomorrow, I don’t know what to expect going forward, I love Mars so much but I’m still worried...” He looked up at Kamal. “You’ve been married a while now, you have any advice for a new hub?”

“Oh, advice, uh...lemme think...” Kamal swirled his still-mostly-full Baileys around. Surely he had something useful after almost a year? Then again, Ash and Marcy didn’t have a huge fallout over one of them insulting the other in an emotional meltdown and reconnect afterward, so anything he could think of that inevitably tied to _that_ likely wouldn’t help...

“Well...people usually say that marriage is a compromise, but that’s really not the case,” he began. “Compromises end up with neither person being totally happy with the results, and that’s okay with like business stuff I think? But not in a relationship. Not sayin’ that you should never put her happiness over your own, of course. You just have to remember that both of you deserve to be happy, and be there for each other during both good times and bad times. And you don’t have to stay glued to each other’s hip all the time, even though you’re probably gonna wanna be for a bit. Don’t try to keep her away from her friends, and value your time with yours.” He took a sip before continuing. “And communication. Relationships live and die based on communication. Don’t be afraid to open up to her about things, and try to lend an ear whenever she needs it.”

Ash nodded and smiled. “Thanks, Kam,” he said. “I’ll keep all that in mind.”

Dale, meanwhile, just downed the rest of his beer and laughed. “Wow, man, sounds like your wife’s got you a little whipped!”

“Excuse me for seeing marriage as the two-way street that it—” It was then that the exact term Dale had used fully registered with him. Kamal raised an eyebrow at this. "Wait, _wife?_ ”

“Yeah?” It was Dale’s turn to seem confused. “Ash said you were married, right? Lemme guess, she’s at Marcy’s bachelorette party while you’re here.”

Kamal sighed. He was used to this when he said he was married without any specifics, but he would rather just be having a good time with his bro then deal with any potential nonsense... “No, my _husband_ is back west with our kid,” he said curtly. “ _He_ had to deal with some time-sensitive stuff, otherwise _he_ would have come too.”

“Yeah, real shame,” Aspen said, catching onto what Kamal was emphasizing. “That guy’s a riot! And Boris woulda _totally_ been down for tryin’ out some of these games, even if he wouldn’t have a clue what he’d be doing, hehehe.”

Dale looked suitably embarrassed. "Huh," he said, a bit quieter than most of his other comments throughout the night so far. "Never woulda guessed. You don't look like the type who's...well..."

“The type who’s _what_ , exactly?” Kamal asked. “The type who’s interested in men? Please, tell me all about what sort of ‘look’ a guy who likes guys is supposed to have.” All three of the Bora brothers were giving Dale a very similar look, the sort of look that was basically daring him to stick his foot in his mouth further than he already had.

“I mean, I’ve met a couple gay guys and they’ve all been pretty, well, _obvious_ about it,” Dale said. “You know. Obvious. It’s not like I’m not cool with people like that, just didn’t think you were one of ‘em.”

“Look, I invited you to this party cuz I wanted my new brother-in-law to feel more like part of the family,” Ash said, glaring at him. “You’re doin’ a real good job of living up to Mars’ label for you, _Dale the Dick_.”

Johnny stepped in between Dale on the Boras, presumably to try and mediate. “C’mon, dude, people who aren’t straight can be literally everyone,” he said. “Like m...uh, my brother. Yeah, none of us wanna hear any badmouthing about that stuff, so can we just get along? _Please?_ It’s my bud’s party and I’m sure he doesn’t want any animosity.” He turned to Kamal, his expression softening into a relieved sort of smile. "So, Kamal, can I, uh, can I ask about your marriage too?” Johnny asked. “I don’t wanna pry, I just think... _my brother_...would feel a lot better hearing about other gay dudes finding good love, hehe...”

Kamal let out a little nervous laugh. “I’m actually bi, but sure,” he said. “Yeah, I’ve known Boris for...god, I think since I moved out west, actually. He actually used to be my boss before we both ended up quitting.” He figured it'd be wise to leave out the details, that would take too long to explain even if it wasn’t Super Weird. “We started getting serious after that, and we got married this spring and it’s been great ever since. We’ve even adopted a kid! She’s rambunctious as hell, but pretty well-adjusted considering her previous situation.” Before he realized it, he already had his wallet in his hand. Oh boy, sappy family man Kamal was about to make himself known, a bit less common than Boris “always a good time to gush about my husband and kid” Habit but still. He opened it and flipped through the photos in the little insert, settling on a really good one of the three of them at the park. “There we are," he said as he showed Johnny the picture. “A couple of dads and the little hero we’re raising.”

“Aw, your kid’s an adorable little squirt,” Johnny chuckled.

“Yeah, cute little luchador wannabe,” Dale said once he'd also gotten a look at the pic. “...Boris, huh? Heh, looks more like a Natasha to me.”

“ _What_.” Kamal could feel his previous annoyance with Dale coming back, and it was starting to shift into anger. He could handle himself being assumed to be straight prior to clarification, he could handle cluelessly insulting remarks about being a man who loved men, hell sometimes he could even handle assholes giving him the stink-eye when being publicly affectionate without flipping said assholes off. But any sort of remarks toward his loved ones...

“I’m just sayin’, dude probably gets mistaken for a woman all the time, and he’s certainly not doing himself any favors in that regard,” Dale continued. “It looks like he’s wearing _makeup_ in that picture, for god’s sake! That’s not a man thing. Unless he’s actually a she and just thinks it’s fun to pretend to be a pretty boy—”

He saw Dale double over before he felt the pressure on his fist or the subsequent stinging pain in his knuckles. For a brief moment he couldn’t believe that he would even be capable of doing such a thing. Yet here it was with three witnesses present: personification of anxiety Kamal Bora had just punched a guy almost twice his size square in the chest. “Don’t you DARE talk about him like that!" he shouted. "Boris Habit is an amazing guy and he can look _however he damn well wants!_ You’re lucky he’s not here to listen to your nasty remarks in person, you... _you...!_ " He took a couple of deep breaths, letting himself to regain clarity about the situation. That was all it took for him to realize exactly how serious what he’d done was. “Oh god...I...” His usual nervouse self was kicking back in. Without thinking, he turned on his heels and ran out of the arcade in a panic.

God, what the hell was _wrong_ with him? He just attacked his sister-in-law-to-be’s brother! Sure, what he was saying was really out of line, but that was still no reason to throw a punch! Right? It’s not like the guy was saying he was going to hurt anyone himself, he was just making insensitive comments about his observations. And where had that even _come_ from, anyway, it wasn’t like him to be violent no matter how many times he’d said with varying levels of joking manner that he would make a certain terrible father lose his kneecaps if he ever made his presence known to them...

“Kam? Kam, you okay?”

Kamal felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the hand’s owner, which was a very concerned-looking Ash. “If you’re worried about Dale, Johnny’s making sure you didn’t hurt him too bad,” he said. “From what I can tell you shocked him more than anything. I mean, you’re the _last_ person _anyone_ would expect to hit someone on purpose...”

“Marcy’s gonna kill me...” Kamal groaned. He sat down on the bench nearby and cradled his face in his hands. “She barely knows me, her family only met me today, and now they’re all gonna think I’m some violent asshole who attacks people for words...”

“They’re not gonna think that,” Ash insisted. “Mars herself warned you about Dale’s... shortcomings. And even if some of ‘em do, we know—more importantly, _you_ know that’s not what you are.”

Kamal said nothing for a while. He just sat there, moping about his actions while Ash patted his back. “So I guess the party’s over, then?” he eventually asked.

“Yeah, that’d be for the best,” Ash said. “I’ll go back in and start cleaning up. You, uh...you wanna come help or would you rather not?”

“Maybe it’s better that I don’t, just in case Dale wants a match point,” Kamal said. “I’ll call a cab to Kanti’s place.” He laughed a bit. “Oh, if she hears about this, she’ll probably be proud of me. Either that or she’ll never let me hear the end of it.” He then thought of someone else. “If _Boris_ finds out, he’ll be so disappointed in me...”

“You did that in his defense, though, so wouldn’t he be proud too? Proud of the sentiment, if nothing else...”

“No, you know how he feels about violence,” Kamal reminded him. “I don’t think this is the kind of thing I’d be able to not let slip, though. I’ll tell him about it next time I call, explain the situation as easy as possible...”

“You can always blame the Baileys,” Ash suggested.

Kamal rolled his eyes. “You know I picked that stuff because it isn’t strong enough to push me that far, and I didn’t even get through half the bottle at that.”

“It was worth a shot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Managed to finally get the happy couple in this, along with the second-youngest Bora sibling Aspen (created by Tav). Ash and Marcy are big _nerds!_ And they embrace each others’ nerdery! I like to imagine they started becoming friends over the Star Wars expanded universe or something equally in-depth and they realized they had stronger feelings for one another after that. And I only mention Star Wars cuz it kinda ties into something later with this, hehehehe... Now if only we could get Dale to stop being a dick. Maybe this reaction to his callousness will teach him a lesson? Or maybe not.
> 
> I’ve never tried any form of alcohol despite being over the legal drinking age, and from what research I’ve done (and what I’ve been led to consider from a fan-made Chateau Romani recipe) Irish cream sounds like what I’d want to be my first attempt. I’m not all that knowledgeable on Mortal Kombat either other than its existence helped lead to the forming of the ESRB _and for good reason cuz it was real gory for the time_ , but damn do I love a good search for a secret, and I figured Ash would too so that’s why I wanted him trying to find Ermac at his bachelor party. And if not for Dale interjecting this whole thing with his dickery, maybe he would’ve tried to find Shen Long after giving that up. ...No, I’m not looking up the fatalities to say what exactly went on in that bit! Even if the gore of the original MK is laughable by today’s standards with how comparatively ridiculous it looks, I’d rather not go looking for _any_ MK fatalities in case I get the more gruesome modern ones slapped in my face. Yick.


	5. Matrimonial Union

“ _Did you reelly do that? : - (_ ”

Kamal never did get how Boris could make his facial expressions audible, but that one broke his heart. “Yeah...yeah, I’m not proud of myself for it.” He tugged at the collar of the nice shirt he’d brought for the wedding proper, not sure if it was the nerves of disappointing his love or the fact that he hadn’t warn this shirt in a few months, either way it felt a bit tight. “Just hoping the Coltraine family doesn’t ostracize me for this. Kanti was hella proud, though, cuz of the reasons why.”

“ _I do appreshiate you stand-ing up for me..._ ” Boris sighed, the phone speaker making it sound a bit more like he’d just stuck the receiver out the window of a moving car. “ _You could-of hurt yourslelf, though. Or he could-of hit you back._ ”

“I know, but I couldn’t let him just keep badmouthing you like that,” Kamal said. “I bet he wouldn’t’ve said any of that if you’d been here. You can be intimidating when you wanna be, even if it’s usually just for show.”

“ _Hehe, that’s is true,_ ” Boris chuckled. “ _It must be the tol._ ”

“Yeah, it’s definitely the tall.” Kamal couldn’t help but laugh a little as well. “I should probably let you go, you’ve got things to do and we’re about to head to the ceremony.”

“ _Oh, yes! Putunia and I are going to deliver the bonana bread!_ ”

“Just remember to save some for me, all right?”

“ _Will do!_ ”

Kamal hung up the phone and made his way outside to where Jasmine’s car was waiting. He climbed into the back seat alongside Kanti (who wisely wasn’t going to try and ride her motorcycle in the dress she was wearing), with little Violetta in her car seat between them like they were an aunt and uncle sandwich. The drive to the venue was uneventful, save for their mutual heckling of the expected bad traffic and Kanti enthusiastically reenacting her take on the whole “my brother punched a guy for disrespecting his husband” event from the previous night. Everyone else seemed to be in agreement that his actions had been in the right, if a little drastic, but when asked for further detail Kamal just laughed nervously and thanked whatever deities that may or may not exist that the nice pants he was wearing had pockets. His anxiety about last night’s incident definitely did not help with the hair-pulling urges, and he really needed that tangle on hand right now.

They soon arrived at the venue, a small place for a fairly understated ceremony. Ash and Marcy hadn’t wanted anything too big and extravagant, and definitely not in a church despite Marcy’s parents trying to pressure such, so they’d rented a small reception hall and only invited close friends and family. So far it kind of reminded Kamal of his own wedding, though with much fewer lovingly raised flowers decorating the place.

After some time it seemed that everyone had taken their seats, though neither the bride nor groom were present yet. While looking around for them, Kamal caught sight of Dale at his seat among the Coltraines. They made eye contact, and Kamal gave him a knowing look as if to say “ _don’t you dare try anything right now_ ”, causing him to quickly look away. “I’m gonna go see if I can check on Ash real quick,” Kamal told Kanti as he made to stand up. “I’ll be right back either way.”

“Don’t get lost in the back rooms,” Kanti joked.

“This place is so small, I bet you couldn’t get lost if you tried.” Kamal got out of his seat and awkwardly shuffled through the seating to the open space by the wall, then made his way toward the back. He didn’t have to go far before finding Ash pacing in the hall, and he couldn't help but think that seeing him in a tuxedo and without his typical beanie hat looked kinda weird. “You okay?” he asked. “Pre-wedding jitters? I had the same thing happen to me, it’s gonna be fine.”

“What if this doesn’t work out, though?” Ash asked. “What if we’re moving into this too fast?”

“How long have you guys been dating before proposing?”

“...three years. But _still!_ ” Ash grabbed at his head and winced. “I’m just...I dunno, I’m worried that something’s gonna go wrong here. Like she’s gonna come down the aisle and run right out the other side.”

“Ash, look at me.” Kamal put his hands on Ash’s shoulders and smiled. “I know I don’t know her nearly as well as you do, but from what little interaction I’ve had with her I can tell she really loves you and is just as excited about this next step as you are. I’m pretty sure that your wedding’s not gonna end up like the early parts of Spaceballs.”

“Oh wow, you actually watched that.”

“Yeah, I watched it.” He pulled Ash close into a brief hug. “Look, if the guy known for anxiety in the family is telling you it’s gonna be okay, it’s absolutely gonna be okay. You calmed down a bit?”

Ash nodded. “Think so, yeah,” he said. He shook himself a bit, as though to try and remove any excess nerves, and made his way back toward the main hall. Before doing so, he turned back and asked, “So, uh, what did you think of that movie anyway?”

“Eh, it was okay,” Kamal said with a shrug. “Pretty crass, thought the joke about them watching the movie they were in was a bit obnoxious, but other than that it seemed like dumb fun.”

“Nice.”

Kamal soon followed Ash back into the main hall, making his way back to his seat. “So he’s doing okay now?” Jasmine asked once he’d returned.

“He should be fine, yeah,” Kamal said. “Just some lingering pre-wedding jitters. And maybe remembering the wrong parody movie for the occasion.”

“Glad to know he’s all right,” Lin said. He was lightly bouncing Violetta on his knee, and stopped when it looked like she was getting a bit fussy. “Okay, you want mama now?” he asked. “Yeah, mama’s got food and you’re a hungry baby, aren’t you.” He chuckled as he gently passed her back over to Jasmine, who was already taking out one of the bottles she had prepared for her.

Kamal laughed a bit from a memory that had just flashed into his mind. “I still can’t believe you actually _tried_ some of that, Jazz,” he said. “That’s so weird!”

Jazz shrugged as she went about feeding Violetta. “It’s no weirder than little kids eating their own boogers. I’d say it’s less gross than that, honestly.”

“Yeah, and besides, it just tastes like regular almond milk,” Kanti said. “Not weird at all.”

“...Okay, why the _hell_ do you know what Jazz’s _breast milk_ tastes like? That’s even _weirder!!_ ”

“You do realize I’ve also tasted dog medicine and cat food, right?”

“Oh my _god_ , Kanti...”

The strange goings-on that they were discussing would have to be put on hold, because at that moment music began to play that was presumably to announce Marcy’s approach to the altar. They had opted for playing music over speakers rather than getting an organist, so everyone likely expected the bride’s walk would be accompanied by something other than the traditional wedding march. What likely wasn’t expected by anyone other than a select few was that in place of the wedding march, she would be making her way down the aisle accompanied by the _Imperial March_. The blushing bride’s face was turning red for entirely different reasons, as it was all she could do to keep from laughing while the theme of the iconic Star Wars antagonist guided her steps.

Once Marcy had arrived at the altar, Ash began turning a bit red as well and he couldn’t stop grinning. The officiant gave a bit of a speech, something off-the-cuff about people coming together in love without any strictly religious language, and then it was time for their vows. Ash took out what he had written from a small envelope, and upon reading it over once again his smile just grew wider. “You know, Mars, I must’ve spent hours trying to come up with something really meaningful for this moment,” he said. “And yet I’ve come to realize that the way I feel about you isn’t something I can quite put into words, even as I continue to make my attempt. I don’t think that anyone is really ‘made’ for anyone else other than themselves, but if any two people can come close enough to that idea then I think it’s us. I can’t say you complete me because we were both already whole, but you certainly add something to the picture that is my life, and it’s an addition that I wouldn’t want to be without.”

Marcy smiled, a bit of a tear forming in her eye. “When I first met you, I thought you were the biggest dork besides myself,” she said. “And now...well, I _still_ think you’re a huge dork, and you know I mean that in the most loving way. The only difference is that we’re a pair of dorks that found each other and honestly, the fact that our paths managed to cross at all in this crazy world is nothing short of amazing. I can’t imagine not having you in my life anymore. I’m...” She paused to gently dry her eyes, thankful that she had forgone wearing makeup for this. “I’m looking forward to this next step. I love you so much...”

“I love you too.”

The kiss was perfect. It wasn’t awkwardly cut short, or held so long as to be uncomfortable. The guests were clapping and cheering, though one could assume that they had tuned out everyone but each other at this point.

\-----

The party after the ceremony proper was soon in full swing. Ash and Marcy’s faces still had remnants of icing from where they’d smashed cake into each other’s mouths, and they were in too high spirits to care. The guests were in equally high spirits, and Kamal was having fun dancing to the music as though no one was watching. “If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I’d _swear_ you were drunk,” Heather said with a laugh as she watched him.

“What, sober guys aren’t allowed to dance by themselves?” Kamal asked.

“Of course they are,” Heather said. “Just not used to seeing you being so goofy. Or, well, seeing you at all now that I think about it.”

Kamal chuckled, deciding to take a break from dancing to have some of the sparkling cider. “Boris is rubbing off on me,” he said with a grin. “Either that or I’m just _that_ happy to be back here for a while, seeing the littlest bro grow up on us like this.”

“It’s been good having you back.” Heather smiled, but her smile quickly faded as she saw someone approaching. “Look out, here comes trouble.”

Kamal followed Heather's gaze to see Dale approaching them, albeit a bit sheepishly and being nudged along by an agitated Marcy. “Oh, uh...hey, Kamal, Heather,” he said, his bravado from the previous night much less present.

“Hello, Dale,” Heather said curtly. “I seem to recall our previous conversation ending very poorly when you insinuated that I should quit my job or ask for a lower position because you believed my husband should be making the larger paycheck.”

“What do you want, Dale?” Kamal asked, a bit less curtly than Heather but still not very friendly.

“My brother’s got some things he needs to say to the both of you, and a lot of other people here while he’s at it,” Marcy said, pushing Dale forward a bit more. “Isn’t that right?”

“Y-yeah, right...” Dale cleared his throat and began. “Look, I said some things that were pretty out of line these past couple days. Heather, I’m sure your job fits you real well and your ambition is a great thing. And Kamal, I...well, I was a real _ass_ last night about your love life. I’ve got no business judging other people’s relationships, and from that pic you showed it seems like you guys are happy and that’s what matters in the end. And calling him a girl just because he wears makeup was...yeah. Guess I don’t really blame ya for what you did at the arcade.” He smiled nervously and held out a hand. “No hard feelings?”

Kamal thought for a bit. He sighed, and finally said, “Yes, there are still hard feelings.” He took Dale’s hand nonetheless. “But I appreciate you at least trying to apologize.”

“Good enough, I guess,” Dale said with a shrug. They shook on it, and Dale made the same offer to Heather who accepted the truce with the same amount of hesitation as her brother.

As Dale shuffled off to presumably socialize more, Kanti approached, watching him go with eyes narrowed. “So does he get to keep his elbows or no?” she asked.

“He’s tryin’ to be civil, let’s give him that chance at least,” Kamal said, sipping his cider. “Geez, sometimes I swear you’re a bit too eager to get into trouble.”

“Says the guy who’s threatened to break his father-in-law’s knees if he ever met him,” Kanti said with a sly grin.

“You would too.”

“Oh, I _absolutely_ would!”

After a while of more high spirits (and thankfully no unpleasantries from Dale), Marcy began calling everyone over for the bouquet toss. It was mostly ladies from her side of the family that would be participating, as nearly every Bora woman was either already spoken for or not interested in the tradition, though both Ash and Marcy had invited some lady friends who were gathered for a potential catch as well. “All right, everybody ready?” Marcy asked, and the girls behind her cheered in delight. “Okay, here we go!” she exclaimed. “Three... two... _one!_ ” She chucked the bouquet behind her as hard as she could, which was so surprisingly hard that she sent the bouquet flying farther than anyone expected, way past all the girls clamoring for it...

...and it landed right on Kanti’s head. She made an odd face when she felt its soft impact, grabbing it and removing it from its landing space. “Ten bucks!” she shouted, waving the bouquet in front of her. “Give me ten bucks and the flowers are yours!”

“Come on, Kanti, the bouquet blessings aren’t something you can pawn off!” Jasmine exclaimed with a laugh.

Kanti rolled her eyes. “Pfff, like I’m ever gonna need ‘em.” She did manage to find someone willing to take her up on the offer, one of Marcy’s cousins, who skipped off in delight with the bouquet in hand.

\-----

It had been about half an hour since the wedding had come to a close. Jasmine and Lin had dropped the twins off back at Kanti’s apartment, and in all honesty Kamal was glad to finally wind down. He loved his family (including most of the new additions) and he loved getting to socialize with them, but large gatherings like that tended to wear him out. First thing he did when he got back was change out of his fancy clothes and back into things he was more comfortable in, even if he did have to negotiate with some kitties to get his favorite striped pants back. “Help, Casper’s holding my pants hostage,” he chuckled as he tried in vain to gently get the very lovey feline to move . “Kantiiiii come get your booooy...”

“He’s trying to tell you to get better fashion,” Kanti said. She’d managed to get lucky and not have any of the clutter lazing about on her clothes, and thus was already out of the uncharacteristic fancy dress and back into a t-shirt and baggy jeans. “Fine, I’ll move him, you big weenie.”

“I can’t do it, he’s too sweet and I don’t wanna make him sad,” Kamal said as Kanti lifted the friendly ball of white floof. He grabbed the pants and quickly got changed once Kanti had left the room and he could close the door. After a bit he made his way into the living room and nearly tripped over the zoomy pair of Samhain and Cadbury. “Oh lord, the babys are fighting!” he yelled.

“Yeah, they get a bit antsy sometimes,” Kanti said nonchalantly.

Kamal gave her a weird look. Usually Kanti wasn’t so dismissive of dealings with the cats. “Something on your mind?” he asked.

“...the bouquet thing.”

“What, thinking you should’ve charged that girl more?” Kamal shook his head, the way she had said that certainly didn't warrant that kind of joke. It was clearly bothering her for deeper reasons. “You know that no one’s gonna think anything weird that you technically ‘caught’ it, right?" he asked. “The bouquet thing is all superstition, anyway. I know you’re probably not interested in anyone, so you’re not obligated to do anything about it.”

Kanti had a hand in front of her face, though what Kamal could see looked like it was getting redder. “Well, I, uh...that’s...not entirely true...” she murmured, her voice rather small for her usually big personality. “I just...haven’t said anything...”

“Oh? You’ve got a crush, huh?” Kamal sat on the couch, taking care to avoid a sleepy Garfield. “You, uh, wanna tell me about her?”

Kanti squirmed a bit in her seat. “Promise you won’t tell anyone?” she asked. “It’s embarrassing, especially given...some things...”

Kamal nodded. “My lips are sealed, promise.”

“Okay, so...she’s gorgeous, obviously. Tall, has long dark hair and lovely eyes...really sweet and kind, super understanding and supportive, smart and creative...” She murmured something else that Kamal could barely hear and her face became even redder.

“What was that last bit?” Kamal asked.

“ _Noooo_ don’t make me say it agaaaain...”

Kamal grinned and gave her a knowing look. “C’mon, you know I’m not gonna judge,” he said. “I mean, I married my former boss, you really think I’m in any position to?”

“That’s the weirdest part though!” She pulled her legs up to her chest, one of the few times she seemed to become more like Kamal rather than the other way around. “That’s why this is so embarrassing...”

“I don’t...what...?”

“She’s _my_ boss, okay?!” Kanti shouted, sending Kamal reeling back a bit at the sudden outburst. “The one woman who’s someone I both have interest in and regularly interact with, and it’s my god damn employer. You of all people should realize how awkward that could be...” She looked up to see Kamal with his hand on his mouth and his eyes slightly scrunched in a way that looked like he was trying to hold something back. “Don’t laugh,” she said. “Don’t you _dare_ laugh!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just...” Kamal snorted a bit, but tried his best to keep it from escalating into full-on laughter. “You gotta admit, it’s at least a little funny, right?” he asked. “The Bora twins basically sharing a type?”

“Well, I’m glad you find that so humorous,” Kanti said. “I’m just...I really like her, like really _really_ like her, but I’m worried that if I say anything it’ll make it harder for us to get work done at best, and at worst she’s either totally uncomfortable with workplace romance or just isn’t into girls and is so badly offended by my advances that she fires me...or even worse, starts _hating_ me...”

Good god, it was looking through a mirror into his own past. “I mean, if you need any advice on that sort of thing I’m here for ya,” he said with a warm smile. “Though I don’t know how helpful anything I’ve got would be, considering how me and Boris didn’t start getting serious until a good while after we stopped working together professionally...”

“Thanks.” Kanti sighed and lowered her legs back to the floor, the newly formed lap space looking to Casper as an invitation to leap onto that he happily accepted. “I’m probably gonna tell her at some point,” Kanti said as she stroked Casper’s back. “I just don’t want word of this to start spreading until I know whether or not she feels the same, and I want people knowing about it to be on my terms, or our terms if it turns out she does.” She pointed at him, eyes narrowed. “If you tell anyone else about this before I’m ready for ‘em to know, I _will_ scoop cat crap into your shoes. Hell, I’ll skip the middle man and crap in ‘em myself.”

Kamal winced a bit. Even with the ridiculous nature of the threat, he knew that she more than likely wasn't joking. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all ever make yourself nearly cry with someone you’ve written? Cuz I think I did. Again. During the vows. I’m not sure if it was the music I was listening to while writing that part or if my writing is just that powerful, or maybe it was both. Anyway, glad to have finally gotten to the wedding, as well as including oldest sister Heather (Tav’s again). And I maaay be setting up some future stuff with a previously unmentioned OC? I haven’t settled on whether or not I’m actually gonna do any serious writing with her yet, I do wanna keep my SFM fics generally centered around the canon characters. Only non-canon one I’d _really_ wanna focus on in writing is technically just an interpretation of a canon one, my FK Cosmos. Maybe I could find an excuse to take the Habit-Bora fam to New York again so they can meet her... In any case, next chapter’s gonna be the last of this one. It’s been nice for him to be back with the old family, but Kamal can’t stay away from his other family for too much longer. :3c
> 
> Fun fact, Kanti’s comment about tasting stuff meant for pets? Inspired by the vet my dad took one of his dogs to, who apparently did legitimately taste medicine for dogs with worms. ...and I personally have tasted dog food because I was a dumb kid and was curious why Tidbit loved it so much. I don’t get it. Not even the wet food had much of a flavor. No wonder dogs are always wanting people food. :P


	6. The Lotus Flies Again

The remaining days that Kamal was to be in New York seemed to melt away, and before anyone knew it, it was time for him to go. His emotional state this time wasn’t nearly as anxious this time as he was being driven to the airport, but more of a bittersweet tug-of-war between two different kinds of longing, one that would be satisfied in a few hours and another that would quickly fill its place. At least the latter was something he could much more easily deal with, mostly because he knew everyone here would be completely fine without him around.

“I still feel like I didn’t get to see any of you nearly as much as I wanted to,” Kamal said once he’d exited the car. He’d insisted on giving everyone a big hug before he left, starting with his parents.

“We'll be coming out west in a few weeks, remember?" Mama Bora asked. “Holidays, after all, and a certain someone’s birthday too.”

“Safe travels, kiddo,” Papa Bora said as he too received his hug.

“Dad, I’ve done this plenty of times by now,” Kamal chuckled.

“Never hurts to think of you though, right?”

They laughed a bit at this, then Kamal took the time to say goodbye to everyone with hugs that would hopefully still be felt in some emotional way for long enough to last until they would see each other again. As he went to hug Kanti, she whispered in his ear, “Just remember to keep my boss-crush a secret, okay?”

“Look, even if you hadn’t threatened me with turds in my shoes, I wouldn’t spill something like that.”

“I mean it,” she said. “Don’t tell _anyone_ until I’m ready."

“Not even Boris?”

Kanti blanched at this. “ _Especially_ not Boris,” she said, almost a bit too loudly to where the others would hear. “He is the _last_ person who needs to know right now.”

“...I don’t get it,” Kamal said. “Though maybe it’s best if I don’t...”

“Good answer.”

"What are you guys going on about?" Aspen asked, an eyebrow raised. "Mind sharing with the rest of the family?"

“Nothing!” Kanti insisted. “Just surprises, that’s all!” Before Kamal could say anything else, she pushed him away and toward the airport entrance. “Go on, get going!” she exclaimed. “You’ve got a plane to catch and two very important people waiting for you!!”

“I’m going, I’m _going!_ ”

One last wave to the family and Kamal was off. He was glad that the anxiety from his flight here wasn’t present, though he did still have that tangle in his pocket just in case his hands got a little bored and started heading upward. He'd gotten there with enough time to kill, so he’d decided to grab a couple souvenirs and a quick pre-flight sandwich, and not too long after it was time to fly.

\-----

As Kamal boarded the plane, he noticed that his seating partner this time was a young girl, more than likely in the high school age range. She seemed incredibly nervous, and quite honestly he didn't blame her. “You, uh, you doin’ all right, kid?” he asked her as he sat down. “I know you don’t know me and it’s probably none of my business, but we’re gonna be sitting together for a few hours so if you’ve got plane jitters I’ll be here to help if you need someone.”

“Thank you, sir,” she said meekly. “I...this is my first time on a plane...well, alone, at least...”

“Your first solo flight’s always the hardest, even for adults,” Kamal said. “Mind telling me your name?”

“Lee,” she said. “I’m Lee.”

“Nice to meet you, Lee, I’m Kamal.” He held out his hand to shake, which she took in her own shaky hand. “So, uh...if you’re okay with telling some random dude, why are you flying by yourself?”

“I’m...going to see my dad,” Lee said. “My parents split about three years ago, when I was thirteen, and Dad moved out to California and I mostly stay with Mom in New York. He usually flies in to see me for holidays but this year they figured I was old enough to go see him for Thanksgiving on my own...I’ve never done anything like this on my own before, and I’m...well...”

“Nervous?”

“Yeah. And worried about anything that could happen to the plane, or what could happen to me on the plane, and...just a lot of things.”

“I getcha,” Kamal said. “It’s hard not to think about that kind of stuff, even when you’ve flown a good number of times.” He laughed a little bit. “Y’know, we’re kinda in the same boat. I live out west now, but I was born and raised in New York and most of the old family is still here. Just heading back from my brother’s wedding. Usually my husband and kid come with, but school and time-sensitive work things meant I headed out here by myself.” He considered not explicitly mentioning that his spouse was another guy unless a pronoun slipped out but _come on_ , it’s the 90s and people who aren’t straight or cis exist, and he certainly wasn’t going be the one to shove himself or Boris back into the closet to save face.

“Oh, my dad’s dating a guy,” Lee said. "He met him after he moved, I think, and he seems happier with him than he did with Mom. They’ve both been happier since everything, I think. I still wish they were still together sometimes, but I...don’t think they’d be very happy if they were, so I'm happy for them.”

“That’s a very mature take on it for someone your age,” Kamal said, smiling. “Don’t know if I would’ve handled something like that the same way when I was that young.”

Lee smiled, a bit of her nerves seemingly eased. “Thank you, Mister Kamal,” she said. Kamal had to stifle a laugh—he must’ve spent so much time around the former Habitat kids, who basically either had him on a first-name basis or just called him “Putunia’s dad”, that he had forgotten that a lot of parents taught their kids to call adults by some sort of title. Not something he thought would carry over to a sixteen-year-old, but then again it was probably just a force of habit for her.

The flight went fairly smoothly for the most part. Throughout the whole thing, Kamal did his best to help keep Lee’s anxiety low, whether by just reassuring her that everything was going to be fine or holding her hand during some particularly nasty turbulence. He barely knew this girl, but dammit, he’d wished that he had someone to do the same thing for him on his first solo flight, even if that had been after he’d already moved across the country.

When the plane finally landed, Kamal offered to help Lee with her carry-on, but she had pretty much gotten over her anxiety by this point and was pretty quick to take care of that herself. She gave him a quick friendly wave as she made her way through the crowd of disembarking passengers, and soon enough he had his own carry-on and joined the stragglers. It wasn’t too hard for him to find the rest of his luggage as well since a certain someone had gotten fairly distinct flower-shaped luggage tags for the whole family. All that was left was to take his stuff, and then he was just a few hallways and a decent amount of walking away from home.

Of course, when he got into the airport’s main lobby, it didn't take long to spot him. Tallest guy in the whole place like usual, Boris was immediately visible to Kamal even if he still seemed to have not seen him yet. He locked eyes with him after a few seconds of searching (partially thanks to the crowd thinning out somewhat for a bit), and once that happened he was beaming and his whole demeanor lifted. Neither of them could stop themselves. They both began jogging toward each other, with Kamal having to squeeze past people and Boris's long stride covering more ground, and soon enough they were in each other’s arms, laughing and smiling even with people likely staring. “God, I’ve missed you so much!” Kamal exclaimed.

“I missed you two!” Boris said. “More than anie-thing!” Without much warning he lifted Kamal off the ground slightly and began to spin around for a bit, both of them giddy and happy to be together again. “Welcome home, calla lily.”

“It’s good to be home,” Kamal said.

They stood there in embrace for at least a good solid minute. It wasn’t until he felt a distinctly not-Boris hand gently tap his shoulder that Kamal thought to pull away. “I think this man wants too talk to you,” Boris said, just in case he hadn’t already noticed.

Kamal turned to see a man with a bit of a nervous smile. He had a feeling he knew who this guy probably was, if the fact that Lee was standing right beside him was any indication. “‘Scuse me,” he said politely, “would your name happen to be Kamal?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” he said with a nod.

“I just wanted to thank you for helping my daughter keep calm during her flight,” the man said. “She told me that if it weren’t for another passenger easing her worries she has no idea how she would’ve gotten through that, and then she pointed you out over here so I decided I’d express my gratitude in person while I could.”

“It was nothing, really,” Kamal insisted. “Just did what I wished someone had done during my first solo flight. I have, uh, let’s just say a lot of experience with that sort of thing, even with my feet on the ground.”

Lee smiled at him, then looked up at Boris. “Good _god_ , Mister Kamal,” she said, trying but failing to not sound too surprised. “This is your husband, right? You brought him up a lot, but I didn’t think he’d be so... _gigantic!_ ”

Boris laughed at her blunt statement. “I get that alot,” he said with a grin.

They chatted for a bit, and after a short while the father and daughter said their goodbyes and headed out. It was about that time that Boris and Kamal figured they should be on their way as well, and as they made their way to the doors Kamal finally noticed the object that Boris had in his hand this whole time: a lumpy brown rectangular form somewhat resembling a brick wrapped in plastic wrap. “What’s that thing you’ve got there, anyway?” he asked.

“Oh, that!” Boris looked down at the item in question and smiled. “It’s one of the bonana breads,” he said with a chuckle. “I think I squashed it tho, but I was just _so_ eggcited to have you back and I wanted you to try it as soon as possable!”

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Kamal said. “Did you already slice it, then?”

“...I just real-ized I did not think this through verie well.”

“It’s the thought that counts, at least!”

They made their way out to the car, and while Boris helped Kamal get his luggage into the car, Kamal did have to pause that and grab something from it. He fished around in a pocket of the bigger suitcase and eventually found the key he’d been told to take with him when he’d first left. “Ah good, the cats didn’t steal it," he said with a sigh. “That's a relief, huh?”

“Yes, very much a real-leaf,” Boris said. “Though I feel like I should ‘tell’ you, I did almost...cer-con-vent that in a bad way. But! I _didn't!_ I have naught purchased or consumed any alcohal since before you left, and honestly considering evry-thing I’me proud of myslelf.”

Kamal smiled. “I’m proud of you too,” he said, giving Boris a hug. “Good job, hon. Really good job.” With the key safely in hand, they closed the trunk and got in the car. Even with their lively conversation and Boris catching him up with all the things that had happened while he was gone, Kamal couldn’t help but watch the scenery pass by as he began to kind of zone out. It was good to be back.

\-----

It took a good few days for Kamal to fully recover from the jet lag, and every time he started dozing off earlier than he intended, he became more grateful that he’d had the foresight to take a bit more time off than strictly necessary. Thankfully it wasn’t too long before everything was back to normal, or at least as normal as things could be for their family. Kamal was back to work at the clinic, Boris’s more recent therapy session went _much_ better than the previous, Putunia was as energetic as ever, and all three were content knowing that they were just a few minutes drive away from each other at most once again.

The weeks went by pretty quickly, with a really good Thanksgiving where nearly all the former Habititians came over, and soon enough it was time to go back to the airport. Of course, this time neither of them were flying anywhere. “So who are we picking upp first?” Boris asked as he climbed into the car.

“Pretty sure it’s just Kanti,” Kamal said. “Jazz and Lin are on the same flight, but I think they and everyone else were planning on getting rental cars once they landed.”

“And they don’t rent ‘out’ motor-cycles,” Boris chuckled.

“Nope, hehehe. Oh yeah, and Ash and Marcy are apparently making this visit part of their honeymoon road trip, that’s pretty good timing on their part.”

“Hope they’ve been haveing fun so far!”

They soon arrived at the airport and made their way inside. Of course Boris, with his height advantage, was quick to spot the first of the Bora arrivals as they descended the escalator, and he pointed them out to Kamal once he had done so. From across the lobby they could see Kanti, Jasmine, and Lin chatting, then they saw Kanti looking their way and presumably noticing them. Then they saw Kanti raise an eyebrow and make a weird hand motion, likely in reference to the Twin Peaks t-shirt Kamal had decided to wear underneath his jacket. Then they saw Kanti nudge Jasmine and point out to her Kamal’s Twin Peaks shirt.

“I can’t believe you still _have_ that old thing!” Kanti laughed once they got close enough for any of them to be in hugging distance. “It’s been what, three years since I sent you that?”

“Probably closer to four,” Kamal said, pulling his twin close for a hug. “And hey, it still fits and I still like it, no point in getting rid of it.”

“Heck yeah!” Jasmine exclaimed. She then turned her attention to Violetta in her baby basket, who was beginning to stir from her nap. “Oh wow, you’re only just starting to wake up, huh?” she asked in that typical tone one uses for babies. “You were so good for your first flight, yes, slept through nearly the whole thing.”

“She wasn’t scared on the plane?” Kamal asked. “That’s surprising.”

“She had a little scare when we first took off,” Lin said, “but after we were in the air we got her calmed down and she managed to sleep up until now.”

“Aww, Violetta’s a brave little babie,” Boris said with a small laugh. He knelt beside Jasmine to be closer to Violetta’s level. “Hel-lo tiney flower,” he cooed. “Do you remember me? It’s been so long since you’ve sean your Uncle Boris...” He waved his hand lightly in front of her face, and now that she was much more awake she began to grab at his giant garden-claw fingers. He began to tear up a little, moreso when she actually got her little hands around one. _“Ohhhh my good-ness_ why are yuo so preshous amnd Good...”

“Well, we should get going, then,” Jasmine said. “Hotel check-in should be soon if I’ve got local times right, and someone more than likely needs a little freshening up anyway.” She turned back to Kanti and gave her a sly grin. “Don’t give the boys too much trouble, all right?”

Kanti couldn’t help but laugh. “Jazz. Come on. I am chaos incarnate. I _literally_ can’t not cause trouble of some sort.”

“ _You’re_ chaos incarnate?” Jasmine asked, feigning shock. “That’s _my_ title! ‘Scuse you!”

“Ladies, you’re _both_ chaos incarnate,” Lin said, shaking his head and laughing.

Jasmine and Lin took their leave, though not before letting Boris gush over his tiny niece a little more. The remaining trio left soon after, making their way to the car where Kanti insisted on cramming her own luggage into the back (and really, who were the husbands to argue?). “So how come the little hero wasn’t here to greet us?” Kanti asked as she climbed into the car.

“Play date with the other kids,” Kamal said. “They really like playing through video games together as a group, even the ones you can’t actually play with others.”

“I think Putunia sayed it was one of those Marios?” Boris mused. “The one where the sticker has him ware-ing a cape and riding on his froggy friend.”

“Pretty sure that thing’s supposed to be a dinosaur and not a frog.” Kamal thought for a bit. “Or maybe it’s both? It does do the tongue thing...”

“Video games are weird,” Kanti laughed. “Oh, Kam, remember the thing I told you about last time? I think I’m cool to talk about it more openly now, and I’ve got some good news.”

“Yeah?”

Kanti grinned. “Well, right before I left for my flight, I kind of...told her how I feel.”

“Oh, really?” Kamal asked. “What’d she say?”

“I dunno yet, she wants to think about it before giving a definite answer,” Kanti said with a shrug. “Still, I’m hopeful. And she didn’t outright say no, I’d consider that at least a _partial_ win for us even if nothing further happens!”

“I hope things go ‘well’ be-tween you two,” Boris said. “Soooo, what’s she like?”

“Keep yer pants on, you giant goober, I still don’t know if me and her a thing yet.” Kanti shook her head, but smiled nonetheless. “Maybe if she shares my feelings you’ll both get to meet her,” she said. “But anyway, let’s get a move-on! Gotta give your fur-babies plenty of time to get used to my quad-cat smell again without freaking out.”

“Come to think of it, I don't think you’ve met Willow yet, have you?” Kamal asked. “Think we got her after the last time you were here...”

“Yeah, and I’m looking to cuddling the hell out of that little floofer!” Kanti exclaimed. “Webby too, of course, but you know me. Cat person first and foremost, hehehe.”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you too.”

With all three now in the car they departed, managing to navigate the seasonally crowded airport parking lot, and soon they were off down the road. Lively conversation was had the whole way, including impending dinner plans (it was still mid-afternoon despite what the personal perception of time told one of them the time it should be) and Kanti giving hints at what presents she had brought for Putunia and the pets, interrupted only by a rousing group sing-along when Bohemian Rhapsody came on the radio. All in all, spirits were high and Kamal was glad. Any time that both halves of his family could come together, with no obligations whatsoever except to enjoy the time they all had together, it was all he could ever ask for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, husbands are reunited, and any more trips to New York (that I’m presently imagining, at least) are gonna be with them sticking together. :D I’m already thinking up more entries for this series, tbh, but I think whatever next idea I have might take place several months earlier than anything else. I’ll be sure to add a note or something regarding timeline placement if that ends up being the case.
> 
> Wonder why Kanti’s so cagey about Habit finding out more about her boss-crush, even after she’s okay with bringing up her existence in conversation? Well, I’m gonna go ahead and assuage any potential fears about that and say NO, Kanti’s boss is NOT related to Habit’s trash relatives in any way!! The lady isn’t even Russian. :P Though how much more I’m willing to reveal about her just yet aside from discussions with a certain person, I’m not entirely sure of at this point. Maybe soon, maybe soon.


End file.
